Historic first announced for WBBL 04

FOR the first time in Women's Big Bash League history the tournament will feature standalone finals.

Across the first three seasons of the WBBL, finals matches were played as double-headers alongside the Big Bash League, with the semi-finals and final virtual curtain-raisers for the corresponding BBL fixtures.

The change is an added incentive to finish the regular season on top of the ladder, with the top-ranked team to host both semi-finals at its homeground on January 19 before the final on January 26.

"Giving the WBBL its own window for finals is an important step for the League as we look ahead to a stand-alone fixture in the 2019-20 season," Cricket Australia's Head of Big Bash Leagues, Kim McConnie, said in a statement on Monday.

WBBL 04 will kick off with a festival weekend at Junction Oval, with all eight sides to play in St Kilda in the first week of December.

That will be the first of three weekend festivals of cricket, before fixtures are spread out across the week at the start of the summer school holidays.

Fox Sports will broadcast 23 matches of this summer's WBBL, with the remainder to be streamed on CA's website.